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Ocean Health

From the Arctic Ocean to the South Pacific, the impacts of climate change are becoming impossible to ignore. Ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising, the very chemistry of the seas is undergoing change.

Through Ocean Health, readers can explore a range of journalism on critical issues related to the health of our oceans and ways in which scientists and local communities are adapting and fighting for the future of our oceans. From ground-breaking reports on ocean acidification to stories on how the melting Arctic ice cap is affecting our lives, these in-depth projects shed new light on under-reported crises that will have a lasting—and potentially devastating—impact on future generations.

Ocean Health also looks at how overfishing, oil exploration, and exploitation of mineral resources beneath the ocean’s surface can degrade the environment and jeopardize food sources needed to sustain the planet’s ever-expanding population. Through this journalism, the Pulitzer Center hopes to inform the debate on one of the most critical challenges of our time—the health of our oceans.

Water issues affect us all, from the women who spend hours daily fetching water to political battles over international rivers to melting icepack and rising sea levels. We are all downstream.

Worldwide, just under 900 million people lack reliable access to safe water that is free from disease and industrial waste. And forty percent do not have access to adequate sanitation facilities. The result is one of the world's greatest public health crisis: 4,500 children die every day from waterborne diseases, more than from HIV-AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.